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Semi-automatic weapons. Street riots. Torture. Rape. Hand grenades. High-speed chases. Murder.

No, not some third world country in chaos… Just some of the content of the more “”Mature” rated video games.  Generation Y (post-1982) has grown up with these types of video games readily available, whether or not a minor can actually purchase them.  The law of the land had been that video games rated for mature audiences were not to be sold or rented to those under age 18 under penalty of law.

….Really. I guarantee a violent video game was easier for a teenager to obtain than beer or cigarettes.

However, the Supreme Court has now ruled 7-2 that it is a violation of First Amendment Rights to ban the sale or rental of “ultraviolent” video games to minors.

From the AP (via Yahoo! News):

Can’t ban violent video sales to kids, court says

…….

States cannot ban the sale or rental of ultraviolent video games to children, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting such limits as a violation of young people’s First Amendment rights and leaving it up to parents and the multibillion-dollar gaming industry to decide what kids can buy.

The high court, on a 7-2 vote, threw out California’s 2005 law covering games sold or rented to those under 18, calling it an unconstitutional violation of free-speech rights. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia, said, “Even where the protection of children is the object, the constitutional limits on governmental action apply.”

Scalia, who pointed out the violence in a number of children’s fairy tales, said that while states have legitimate power to protect children from harm, “that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.”

……

Moral of the story: Parents, be responsible with what you allow your children to access. Do-gooders, it’s not your place to try and instill your moral relevancy upon someone else’s kids.  SCOTUS, bravo. Justice Scalia was right on the money in his Majority Opinion.